Melbourne is a city that embraces the innovator, the dreamer and the doer, which is probably why it attracts so many architects – like me. When my business partner Juliet Moore and I set up our studio Edwards Moore four years ago, the city seemed young and agile, while boasting world class buildings and spaces such as the RMIT Design Hub, Federation Square and the Melbourne Recital Centre. It offered a "have a go" ethos and a welcoming of difference – be it in architectural style or project type.

There’s a strong community spirit among the city’s architects, who frequently share their ideas. Set up in 2012, New Architects Melbourne meet regularly to discuss projects and air their opinions over a beer. And there's the Monday evening meet-up in the city's Loop Bar where architects can swap design experiences and present ideas. There are many exciting design studios, each with big goals, its own voice and a strong identity, producing rigorous and ambitious designs. Here are some of the best.

Avoid the NSA: Sibling's On/Off installation at Melbourne university.

Sibling

Who?

Established in 2012 by eight friends,
Sibling studio crosses the disciplines of architecture, urbanism, cultural analysis and communication, producing not just buildings but also installations, strategies and events.

What have they built?

One of Sibling's founders, Nicholas Braun, says their approach to design “insists on spatial forms that foster an engagement with broader social issues”. A recent project, the installation
On/Off at Melbourne University, questions our connected world of data cables, smartphones, radio frequencies and surveillance through the creation of a modern day
Faraday Cage. This structure prevents electromagnetic charges reaching its interior to create a space of disconnection and escape. Braun calls it “a gesture to physically connect people in a space with architecture creating a filter or temporary firewall between the individual and the world”.

Sibling are working on designs for a new regional museum – their largest project to date – along with some retail projects exploring the online selling strategy as well as the physical space.

Michael Ong

Ong says he’s “a little biased, but as a young architect, Melbourne is arguably one of the for most supportive and exciting cities to be in right now.”

What has he built?

Completed in 2013, the architect’s first project, the Hans house, is a beautifully detailed exercise in restraint. Built in the suburb of Aberfeldie, it comprises a two-storey angled timber box hovering over a ground level living space, in which the form cradles and pulls the landscape in and towards the centre of the house.

Ong is currently working on a number of residential projects due to start on site later this year. One of these is a three-storey house just 3.7m wide and built over an existing laneway in north Melbourne. “It’s a project which I hope to explore alternative architectural typologies as we move into a denser way of living and dwelling,” he says.

Heard of the knuckle sandwich? Here's the house to match.

Index

Who?

John Doyle and his partner Laura Martires, from Portugal, formed studio Index in Tokyo 2011 where the couple met whilst studying. They enjoy working across a range of projects from small-scale renovations, houses and fit-outs to large scale masterplan projects citing their goal as design “beyond simple problem-solving”.

Why Melbourne?

“Melbourne’s architecture and design scene is one of the most vibrant and exciting in the world,” says Doyle. “The key to this is the huge range of small and experimental practices that are at work”.

What have they built?

Their latest project, Knuckle House, completed at the end of 2013 is a house in the form of a human knuckle. It is divided into a series of segments which are slipped and rotated in order to allow natural light to penetrate deep into the plan. “The brief called for large living spaces that included access to courtyard gardens, as well as a balcony to take advantage of views of the city,” explains Doyle.

Adrian Amore

Who?

Trained in Melbourne, Amore is an architect with an interest in “a city’s sense of place, form, detail and in creating sensuous architecture”.

Why Melbourne?

“It’s an exciting city to be working as an architect because of its relative infancy. There is a sense that there is possibility to have input into the way the city is shaped and projected on the world stage.”

What has he built?

Housed in a former butter factory in west Melbourne, Amore’s freshly-finished loft apartment project features walls that tear, bend and converge. Its jaw-dropping sculptural stair forms the focus and backdrop to the apartment, twisting and soaring upwards to a roof deck that overlooks the city. The open-plan ground level is defined by bending and wrapping walls which contain bathroom and storage spaces.

He is currently working on concepts for a split-level concrete house for a surburban site in inner Melbourne as well as a sculptural steel office building on a tricky, narrow site in Carlton.

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